PREFACE.

THE Democratic National Convention, to nominate candidates for the office of President and Vice-President of the United States, met at Chicago on the 8th day of July, 1884. The party was represented by its ablest men, who either as delegates or as members of political clubs, or as advisers, participated in its deliberations. The Convention nominated, on the second ballot, for the high office of President of the United States,

HON. STEPHEN GROVER CLEVELAND,

Governor of the great Commonwealth of New York, who had previously carried his native State by the overwhelming majority of 192,854 votes, and who by his ability, integrity and courage had gained many encomiums from political friends as well as adversaries. No person can point to an act of his that can be construed as a bid for the nomination or as an effort to secure it. The Democratic party has great cause to be proud of the moral sense and political sagacity of its leaders, who, on account of Governor Cleveland's admirable record and character, have nominated him for the Presidency, the highest office in the gift of the people.

There was in the great Democratic Convention no real hostility to Governor Cleveland. All opposition to him was coupled with the highest respect and admiration for the man, and was induced only by local attachment to other candidates. The friends of Bayard, Thurman, Randall and Cleveland were in entire sympathy in their gen

eral views and purposes. They naturally tried their best to promote the candidacy of their friends, but they had no objection to Mr. Cleveland.

The hearty satisfaction with which the nomination of Grover Cleveland has been received is a guarantee of his election in November. It arises from the general conviction that the chief issue of the election is honest and efficient administration, with sole regard to the public welfare. Indeed, he owes his nomination to his spotless character, his career as an executive officer, and to the universal respect and confidence which his conduct has inspired. He was elected Mayor of Buffalo when the intelligent sentiment of the city demanded a reform policy, and a man able and courageous enough to enforce it. He was the candidate of citizens who were resolved that the city government should be conducted for the general welfare, and not for the benefit of rings and traders. He discharged his duties without regard to private interests or his own political or personal profit. He held his office as a public trust, baffling jobbery of all kinds, vetoing doubtful schemes or questionable laws upon clear constitutional and indisputable grounds, and by his direct, honorable and energetic course winning the cordial regard of his fellowcitizens. It was natural that in the decline of great party issues, and in the alarming and dangerous progress of corrupt political methods, the voters of New York, hearing of the administrator of the government of one of the chief cities of the State as a man possessing the very qualities which promised the overthrow of political corruption, should have willingly supported him for Governor of the State. His vast and unprecedented majority attested his popularity in his own State.

Frank and plain in manner, scorning political charlatanry and the arts of a demagogue, his appointments to office, his thorough study of laws submitted to him, his vetoes based upon constitutional grounds and wholly un

mindful of personal views and wishes, his hearty cooperation with every measure to promote reform in the civil service, and his wise and energetic part in the purification of the unclean and corrupt municipal government of the city of New York, have naturally attracted the attention of the country to a public officer in a most dignified and responsible position whose career shows the qualities which the political situation especially requires.

With Grover Cleveland as its candidate the Democratic party appeals with unmistakable directness to the moral sense of the people of the United States. Shall the next President be a man who has weakly yielded to temptation, or a man who has unswervingly adhered to the right against great temptations to do wrong? A man who begs pecuniary rewards of those his official action has enriched, or one who defies corrupt dictation and seeks only by a just course to deserve the approval of all honorable and right-thinking men? This is the supreme issue. It is this which the voters of the Republic are to decide. It is not the issue of protection: the tariff has nothing to do with it; the honest convictions and patriotism of ten millions of voters are appealed to, and they will settle this question conclusively and for the right.

It is not only in what he clearly represents, but in what he opposes, that Grover Cleveland is strong before the American people. His career has made him the exponent of clean and honest politics. He has been severely tried. in the important and responsible position he now occupies as Governor of the great Empire State. He has resisted the importunities of designing politicians, and defeated the plans of selfish schemers. All members of his own party who are not striving for private gains, which are in conflict with the public good, are outspoken in his praise; and he has won the good opinion of all men who are not so biased by partisanship as to have lost the power to commend upright conduct in a political adver

sary.

Could a candidate find stronger recommendation than this in the opinion of voters whose political actions are shaped solely by considerations of the public good? The official acts which have won for Governor Cleveland the intense hostility of all jobbers and disreputable men, are the very acts which have most strongly commended him to the support of honest voters.

Mr. Cleveland's associate on the Democratic Presidential ticket is the Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana, who was defrauded of his election to the office of Vice-President of the United States, together with Mr. Tilden, in 1876. Few men have greater personal popularity than Mr. Hendricks. He is genial, always true to his friends and possesses those qualities which give men a strong hold on the people.

This ticket is one of the strongest ever presented by the Democratic party and will be elected by a large majority. It is but natural that their countrymen should desire to know the means by which these great men have risen, by their own ability and integrity, to the proudest positions in the Republic, that of being the candidates of the grand old Democratic party for the office of President and VicePresident of the United States. To meet this demand the author has prepared this volume.

The records of Grover Cleveland and the Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks are presented in this book clearly and without partiality, that all men may see that their claims to the love and confidence of the American people are justified by their meritorious and faithful service, their ability and integrity, and fearless performance of their arduous and trying duties in all positions to which they have been elected by the people.